On Tuesday, Congress returned for its 115th term, and Paul Ryan easily won re-election as House Speaker. This was a mere formality of a vote from the GOP-led House, which “unanimously backed” Ryan in November for a return to the coveted position. With today’s vote, Ryan now stands as a key leader in what the New York Times emphasizes will be “an era of unified Republican government” as soon as Donald Trump takes office.
In other words, Republicans are preparing to roll back loads of the Obama administration’s policies, and they’re planning on seeing Donald Trump go with the flow. There’s plenty of indication that Trump will do so, particularly when it comes to the Affordable Health Care act and environmentally-related legislation. However, he’s still a wild card and has mentioned that he “very much” likes certain aspects of Obamacare, so this may not be the entirely breezy affair that Republicans expect.
The House GOP certainly didn’t anticipate how Trump criticized them for voting to dismantle the Congressional Ethics Office, although — ultimately — Trump mainly thought the timing looked awful. And it did. The House GOP busted in and held a closed-door discussion on a federally recognized holiday, which is bad form.
So unfortunately for Ryan, the House GOP already made a poor showing on the eve of Congress’ return. And they did so despite Ryan’s opposition to the vote on Monday night. Republicans did pull the proposal, but they only did so after public outrage and Trump’s tweeted criticism. So, it’s anyone’s guess how much control Ryan will be able to exert over his own (emboldened) party in the House.
(Via New York Times)